+ Not too bad pricing+ TV had Netflix and was good size+ Rooms looked nice and were overall good size+ Free Wifi+ Overall fairly quiet despite being near the free-way+ Very friendly staff+ Bar in the hotel was good, a very nice lady spoke to me and my friend when we went down.+ Pool

Cons:+ Pay for parking. Price not the worst, but not super cheap.+ Hard wood floors in rooms. Bad idea, feet are sensitive and so hurt to walk.+ Bathroom door was a weird glass material that was almost see-through+ Shower did not have a door, instead having a open chunk as if a door has been taken off. With the glass door above, left a feeling of slight comfortableness.+ TV wouldn't let us hook up my PS4 to it. Not a big deal breaker, just a negative.+ Breakfast was not free.+ Slight walk to the convention. Not the worst I've had, but it is a decent distance still.

Overall this was a pretty good hotel with some issues I think make it my second favorite I think. I'd need to think over if this one is worth doing again but not a good hotel.

I usually don't go to fan-panels at Fanime as a lot of them seem to be growing around the talk of politics and that entire cluster fuck of opinions. I only went to this one because it was for a series I liked, and I feel as though it was not a good use of time.

This post is certainly a month late, I am aware of that. However, I wanted to try and figure out my thoughts on the panel as a member of the audicene.

From the start, I'm a huge fan of the Tales of Series. Tales of the Abyss is one of my five favorite games period, and my first game was Vesperia. I have a huge love for the series, so I attended the panel because I was surprised to see someone discussing the Tales of Series at a panel.

From the outset, I thought the panel would be discussing the characters and how the series portrays grief, tragedy, and how characters deal with loss. After all, the panel description implied it would be about such a thing.

Now, I want to make this clear; what the host of the panel described happened to her is awful, and there is no denying of how horrible experiencing things like that can be. The point of my post is what I thought about the panel itself, not about the hosts personality or history. I think the panel had good idea, but bad execution. Instead of critically analyzing characters, events, or plot lines, the panel was the host using her own experience to tell the audience how she felt while playing. While this would be fine if it was to describe the scene, than offer her own interpretation, the way the panel was scripted was not what the game factually did, but what she felt about the scenes or characters. This is a problem because instead of discussing or debating, the audience was effectively preached too about how they were supposed to feel.

For example, when discussing Tales of Berseria, the host complained about a scene where the character Eleanor tried to rationalize the main actions of the main antagonist to herself, as Eleanor was formerly a member of the antagonists side but was unaware of the truth. Her character arc is about understanding how wrong she was, and its a pretty solid arc. However, the host criticized this scene as "we can't have Eleanor be called out because she has to be "pure" of heart". This ignores a sidequest that shows Eleanor nearly falling into hatred as well, but being stopped by the group as they recognize she isn't someone who can handle being the same kind of cruel hearted nature as some of them are. The host spins it by comparing it to a real life event that she had happened, which again is horrible that it happened, but is grossly different from what happened in game. It wasn't a critical analysis of Elenaor's character arc, but instead a disgruntled rant about not liking a story point, which was done already when discussing Tales of Zestiria, though her point there started off strong but ended up being the same issue. I was honestly wanting to debating her on it, as I thought that time would be allowed for questions or debating, but the entire time was used and no questions were allowed. Of course I don't want to sound like I'm trying to educate her on a fictional character, but debating it would of been a nice way to make the panel feel fun and interesting.

The problem I'm getting at was that the panel was less of a analysis, discussion, or debate about the writing of the series, and instead was half ranting about the plot points she didn't like, and using in game events to preach at us about her "cosplay help group". I don't think the group was a bad idea, but it was a bit jarring. Honestly, I think this panel was a let down as a fan of the series, and I don't really like the idea of being preached at about how horrible someone's life was at an anime convention. Unless the panel is about that, it feels out of place. I wanted to see mention of Luke from Tales of the Abyss and how his character arc was done, or discuss how the series portrays real world issues. Instead I got a lecture of sorts, and to me, that isn't fun to sit through.

Again, no disrespect towards the host. I just feel some constructive criticism was needed to maybe make the panel going forward be more interesting.

I understand price being a good reason not to go, but if you don't have the money then you honestly should not attend. Going to the con, complaining about not being able to be in events and other things, and then say "Well I don't have the money" seems like your saying that you want to be able to do everything at the con for free. If you really want to go to the con and have low money then buy the ticket early, it isn't too cheap but it is still cheaper.

I felt this was better then last year's fanime but kinda awkward. To start with; Last fanime I got sick the day before with some kind of stomach bug that left me in the bathroom most of the day. I went to fanime still because I spent money on the ticket dammit, plus my at the time girlfriend was going to wanted to go. Was sick all through the con and it ended monday, nice feeling.

Pre ConThe start of this con had me a bit stressed. I was extremely busy with college and work so I had to cancel all my cosplays planned for the con save ones I had previously done. I graduated a week before too so I was extremely busy till the con rolled around. I also had to worry about finances too. Worst of all; Thursday I discovered a nail in my tire at 6:30pm, after all the auto-care places closed.

FridayGot up and went to get the nail out of my tire. Place I went to opened at 8 and I had to wait an hour for it to be done. After, I had to finish getting my stuff in the car and pick up my friend. After that I drove from Dixon to Benecia to pick up my ex-girlfriend, were still friends. Got to the hotel and dropped our stuff off. Had a good time but ended up waiting for almost three hours for the shuttle because it decided to skip the Fairmont stop for no reason, meaning instead of getting back to the hotel to eat dinner, me and my friend got back and had cold food.

SaturdayHonestly pretty good. I had a good time, nothing bad happened. Went to the Persona/SMT/Atlus gathering as Adachi and only got to be in two photos which sucks but it's w/e. Later I went to the midnight gathering for it and had a good time. Also went to AFK and had some drinks so I had a pretty solid night. I think it was the best night of the con for me.

SundayPretty uneventful, but in a good way. Went to the Erica panel, wondered the con, and bought three really nice posters. Unfortunetly the sushi places were closed early so we ate at a Denny's near our hotel. Went back to the room and watched the first episode of One Punch Man for the first time and that was it.

MondaySpent some time cleaning our hotel room and packing before we went to the con. The Hilton is a great hotel for those who drive because they allow free parking if you put the car under your room name, plus the shuttle goes to it. Cosplayed as Amon Koutarou and went to a panel that was really small because it was announced last minute but it was fun. Worst of the days but only cause it was short.

Over all I'd say this was a better fanime then last year, and a much better con then Sac Anime in January for me. Some awkwardness and lack of interesting panels was a let down but I had a pretty fun time. 8/10.

This will be my first panel for a convention so I wanted to start it off with a fun spin on the normal Q&A's that are often done. The panel, currently dubbed the Mayonaka Fanfic Reading is a cosplay character focused panel based around the Persona series, mostly Persona 4. The panel will consist of several cosplayers reading fanfiction in character based on search's done on Fanfiction.net with the audience requesting which ones to be read. The panel will be 18+, while the goal is not to have adult material in it, we might stumble across fanfic that is a bit dicey for minors and want to make sure that nothing happens. Each reading will have a time-limit to ensure multiple fanfic's can be read and I encourage people to involve everyone on the panel.

The cast is mostly Persona 4 but Persona 3 might be considered if enough interest in in there, though Persona 5 is tentative since it will be coming out this year.Date:Time:Location:

I'd love to suggest Mothers Basement, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBs2Y3i14e1NWQxOGliatmg, a youtuber who does extremely good videos analyzing anime and games. His content is excellent and it could be fun. He has gone on record stating he would go if he was invited and he'd be a great panel going over anime openings and how there made. Not to mention he loves JoJo and could lead a panel!

His content has improved heavily this year and he's made it clear he'd love to come out if requested.